Don't expose your light to strong light.

Ok... I'm reading the manual for a Martin Atomic 3000 LED strobe:

http://www.martin.com/Martin.Downlo...1_MANUALS/999/35000290a UM_AtomicLED_EN_A.pdf

and at the top of page 11 it warns me against letting light from the sun or other fixtures hit the front glass directly or at an angle.

Ummm... What are they trying to tell me?

A fast, intermittent strobe is different than sustained sunlight being bounced off the reflector at the lamp and glass.

They say damage can occur in seconds.

Do I need to treat these like photographic paper, or just not leave them in the sun?

The fixture draws 740w and based in it's size it will absorb no more than 100w of sunlight.

I just want to understand if there is a failure-mode/fragility I don't understand because the Internet lists these at USD$3500 ea.

Or is it just a standard/boilerplate warning because there is a curved shiny surface in it?

I found a review that said the problem was the little lenses over each LED.

Ok, understanding the failure-mode gives me a good idea of what I can and can't do.

Lyle Williams said:

I found a review that said the problem was the little lenses over each LED.

Ok, understanding the failure-mode gives me a good idea of what I can and can't do.

Click to expand...

So those little lens can act like a magnifying glass, and the LED becomes the proverbial ant...

Chris Pflieger said:

So those little lens can act like a magnifying glass, and the LED becomes the proverbial ant...

Click to expand...

Yup. A solar furnace. LEDs do not like to be baked. In addition, "white" LEDs are actually blue/UV LEDs with a bit of phosphate, which will bake.
I had a friend who's headlights failed on his car. Turns out he had parked his car in location/incline where the headlights aimed directly into the sun. What was left was a molten mess.

Label on the side of HES Shogun: "Warning! DO NOT point at sun."

Are they afraid the sun is going to feel intimidated?

We had VL3000s returned from a rental quite a few years ago that had considerable internal damage because the users left them lens up, sitting in the sun for a full day. Wire harnesses, and pretty much anything not metal that was in view of the lenses got toasted.

Lots of manufacturers put out warnings about not pointing their lights - especially those with beam optics, bubble lenses, or TIR lenses - directly in to the sun. As others have said, it can basically turn your light in to a solar furnace and cook other, LEDs, and other internals. As far as the strobe, it could also be protecting against the lamp exploding with how focused the reflector is on the lamp for light coming in the front.

https://www.vari-lite.com/b-dam/var...s/TN-301A-Caution-Against-Direct-Sunlight.pdf

I get it now, but it was pretty funny... 180,000 lumens peak output, but you must keep it away from bright light.

I was working on lady ga ga production rehearsals a while back (the tour that was cancelled mid stream). i did a few similar shows, and i only think it was lady ga ga. They were using several laser projectors. Arena show with long throws. I’m not interested in tech info about anything the way I used to be; seems these days value is important and these were discussed as $300,00 projectors.

anyway, during focus/programming of the show (during the night shift) stage mounted lasers apparently scanned the lenses of a few of the projectors and it was discovered that a crucial circuit board toasted, rendering the projectors unusable. Had to be replaced.

I mention this for designers and production electricians who may be unaware, and who should issue warnings to keep yourselves off the hook. if it happens, at least you can say a warning was issued.